Bek Hyung-So's head throbbed as he looked out onto the city from the window. He was having difficulty trying to process what he was going through and where he was. The world he was in now felt at the same time both deeply alien and intimately familiar to him; it felt strange to look at things like an "alarm clock" and knowing what it was and what it did, but not having any memory of ever seeing it before that day. The clock declared that the day was a "Monday", but Bek had no idea where in the week that day was. However, even as he thought about it, he said out loud,

"It's the beginning of the week."

Suddenly hearing his voice shook him. It sounded much younger than he remembered when he was back in Greayknell. Or, perhaps, when he was dreaming of Greayknell, because at this point he wasn't sure which was a dream and which was reality.

Monday was the beginning of the week, he said to himself. This piece of reflection brought forth another memory within him, about somewhere important where he had to go every day, starting each Monday, but he could not recall exactly what or where that was. As he stood by the window, his eyes wandered down to himself, to see if he could remember anything from the clothes he was wearing. However, it wasn't of much help, as he seemed to be wearing nothing at all. Sighing, he looked out of the window again, and happened to spot a small crowd gathered in the balcony of the building across the street. They all seemed to be pointing at something and taking "pictures" with their "smartphones". Somehow, Bek understood what they were doing, even though he couldn't say how or why. As he gazed at them, he felt uneasy. They seemed to be pointing in his direction and taking the pictures; some of them were even laughing. He squired slightly, wondering what it was that was amusing them so much, then looked down at himself and realised why. Face turning scarlet, he quickly closed the curtains and hurried back into the room.

Sitting back down on the bed, he rested his head in between his hands and tried to get his thoughts arranged. One, he was obviously not somewhere unknown. That much was obvious, otherwise, he wouldn't have known so much about where he was. Two, the place he was in was his home. Sure, it wasn't much, just a bedroom with an attached kitchen and bathroom; but he felt a sense of comfort and belonging there. Of these two things he was certain of, but everything else was uncertain. First and foremost, who was he? Was he Trobek Ur, a healer in the world of Greayknell? Or was he...

"Bek Hyung-So, from Korea." The answer came automatically to his mouth.

It seemed that while his own memories were foggy, the muscle memory retained by his body was still good. A sudden idea came over him, and he went into the bathroom and stared into the mirror. The face that greeted him was at once familiar and unfamiliar to him. He knew that the person in the mirror was indeed him, but at the same time, he was different from what he remembered he looked like, as Trobek Ur. Being a healer didn't warrant much physical exertion, so Trobek had retained the slender frame he naturally had. However, the man in the mirror looking back at him was much better built, with well defined muscles and clear cut facial features. While he could probably still be recognized as Trobek Ur (unlikely since he was quite literally in a different world), it was clear that in this world, he was undeniably Bek Hyung-So.

As he thought of these things, a sharp pain through his head made him nearly fall over. Carefully sitting down on the toilet, he massaged his temples. As he sat there, he said something as if by instinct.

"Late..."

Bek brooded. What did he mean by late, what was he late for? He felt a need to get dressed and leave his apartment to go... somewhere, but he wasn't sure where to. Letting out a breath, he decided to let instinct guide him for the time being, since he himself had no idea what to do.

Bek quickly put on some clothes, and after some thought, grabbed a thin, black leather jacket and put that on as well. As he headed for the front door, his hand automatically reached for the keys kept on top of the rack of shoes beside the door. He opened the door, but something made him stop. He was forgetting something. He went back to the room and looked around, trying to think what it might be. His eyes fell on two small black objects on the bedside table. He went to them and picked them up. A wallet and a phone. Putting them into his pockets, he finally felt complete again.

Leaving the building, Bek stepped out onto the sunlit streets of the city. Shading his eyes from the glare, he looked around, unsure of what to do next. The streets were crowded, with hundreds of people walking along the pavements, all with places to be. Bek felt out of place, the only one with no idea where to be or where to go. As he stood, wondering what to do, a friendly voice hailed him from behind.

"Ah Hyung-So! How are you feeling? You were pretty drunk last night so I was worried!"

Bek turn around to see a fashionably dressed young man walking towards him with a smile on his face. He stopped in front of him and clapped his shoulders.

“Still, I’m surprised! I didn’t think you could hold your drink so well! Maybe you’ll teach me some of your tricks next time, eh?”

Bek stared at the man, getting more nervous. It’d be bad if he realised that Bek barely remembered his own name. However, just before disaster could strike, some block on his memory was released, and he managed to remember the man’s name.

“A-ah yeah, Jae-Yong, definitely. You’ll have to excuse me now, I’m running a bit late…”

“Oh of course, you have to get to the clinic, right? All right don’t let me keep you. We’ll meet again this evening.”

“Yeah, sure…”

“Oh also…” Jae-Yong walked close to him and asked him in a conspiratorial tone.

“I heard the doctor in charge of your training is a real beauty?! I’m hurt that you didn’t introduce me to her!”

“O-oh, must have slipped my mind. Anyway, I really need to get going now.”

“Yeah sure, see you later!”

With that, the man known as Jae-Yong walked away and disappeared around the corner.

Bek let out a sigh of relief. It would have been extremely awkward if he had found out that Bek had no idea who he was, or how he knew him. However, meeting him was beneficial. His words had managed to clear away some of the fog obscuring Bek’s memories. He now knew that he worked as a trainee at a veterinary clinic nearby, and that’s where he was meant to go, and for which he was already late. He didn’t know what would happen if he was late, but he would rather not arouse suspicion now.

As he made his way towards the clinic, however, something else struck him as odd. Jae-Yong had said that they had been together just yesterday. Meaning, he’d been asleep for only a single night. Yet, he could recall with crystal clarity all the decades he’s spent in Greayknell. He was still unsure whether he had just woken up from a particularly vivid dream, or was still dreaming at that very moment. Another sharp headache interrupted his thoughts. Wincing, he massaged his head and sighed; it seemed thinking too much wouldn’t yield much results. For the moment, he just decided to wait and see what happened.

The bell on the door jangled as Bek walked into the clinic. The receptionist looked up and smiled.

“Good morning Bek. Had some fun on Sunday, I suppose?”

“Uh, yeah…”

“Yes I thought so. Usually you’re never late, even by a minute.”

“Yeah, I had a headache this morning.”

“No worries, go on through, Dr. Chae-Young just came in as well.”

Bek walked in through the door marked “Staff Only” and headed into the locker room. On entering, he hesitated, trying to recall which one was his locker. Going to the end of the room, he opened one of them with a key on the key-ring he had with him, and found a clean set of scrubs, gloves, masks and hair cover in it, along with a few miscellaneous things: a small notebook, a pen, an empty backpack and a small pendant.

Bek picked up the pendant and inspected it. It was a simple silver triangle with a blue gem in the middle and a steel chain to hang it around one’s neck. It didn’t look particularly expensive, but somehow, it felt important to Bek. He hung it around his neck and tucked it away under his shirt. He quickly put on the scrubs, gloves and a mask and headed out again through the waiting area into the treatment area. As he opened the door and walked in, the figure sitting with her back to him working on a computer swivelled in her chair to face him. It seemed that Jae-Yong had been right.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Dr. Chae-Young was an attractive woman in her early 30s. Straight black hair fell down her shoulders and a slender framed pair of spectacles adorned her face. She had a stern face, which somehow added to her looks. Underneath her scrubs, she wore a black turtleneck sweater that accentuated her figure and a pair of black skin-tight jeans.

“Mr. Hyung-So. You’re late today.” She said in a soft but commanding voice.

“I apologise ma’am, I had a bad headache this morning. Had to lie down in bed for a bit longer than usual.” Bek had instinctively called her “ma’am” without meaning.

“...I see, well it can’t be helped then. Are you feeling better now?” She said after a short pause.

“Yes, ma’am, I do.” Again. Bek called her “ma’am” automatically.

“Very well then, let’s get to work then. I won’t push you too hard today. Call in the first patient please.” Dr. Chae-Young swivelled back towards the desk and continued her work.

The day passed fairly uneventfully. At around 4:00 pm, Dr Chae-Young called Bek over.

“How are you feeling? The headache hasn’t come back, has it?”

“No ma’am, it hasn’t”

“That’s good then. I’ll let you off early for today. Go on back home and rest up. We’ll pick back up in full force from tomorrow again.”

“Thank you ma’am.” Bek turned around to leave.

“Oh and Hyung-So?” She called after him.

“Don’t call me “Ma’am”, please. It makes me feel old. Just Chae-Young is fine.”

“I-I’ll keep that in mind ma-” Chae-Young mockingly glared at Bek.

“Chae-Young.”

Chae-Young nodded and gave him a smile, her first of the day. It lit her face up, making her almost radiant. Bek swallowed hard and quickly turned around to leave.

Outside, the sun was nearing the end of its journey to the west. Bek walked slowly along the pavements, as the signs and shops slowly lit up in preparation for the evening. Bek looked at them vacantly as he passed by, deep in thought. Working in the clinic had removed a lot of the haziness he had felt in the morning. He was now convinced that the world he was in was the real world. However, he could not deny that the world of Greayknell did not exist either. He remembered everything too clearly for it to have been a mere dream. As he thought of Greayknell, he remembered Remmy weeping as he died. The thought sent a shudder through him and he had to stop for a moment and take a few deep breaths to calm down.

No. That world could not have been a mere dream. It hurt him too much to be a dream. He looked around him and spotted a small convenience store a few steps away. Looking at it made him suddenly realise he hadn’t eaten for the whole day, and that his stomach had been protesting against this blatant abuse for a while now. Bek walked into the convenience store and wandered around for a while, wondering what to get. While the store was small, it had a dizzying variety of items on offer. Eventually, Bek settled on a few packed lunches. As he picked them up, however, a strong feeling of revulsion overtook him, making him drop them almost instantly. The boxes clattered on the floor as he felt his gag reflex kick up.

Bek covered his mouth and stumbled out of the store, retching. Standing outside, he waited until the feeling subsided. Standing back up straight, he frowned. That was not something natural, he decided. The feeling had started the moment he picked up the boxes and started to subside when he let it go. It was almost like his body was rejecting the very concept of the packed lunches. Thinking of something, Bek went back into the store. As he entered, the cashier looked at him with concern.

“Are you all right, sir?”

“Oh, yes I’m fine, thank you.”

Bek headed back to the aisle where the lunches had been. The ones he had dropped were still lying on the ground. Looking around to make sure no one was near him, Bek bent down to pick the lunches back up. Almost immediately, the same feeling of revulsion came to him. Fighting it, he said out loud,

“I am not going to eat them, I’m just putting them back on the shelves.”

As he said this, the feeling immediately subsided, and he managed to put them back on the shelf. Bek was now utterly lost. What exactly had happened to him? It was as if something was forcing him against eating. Bek thought hard and picked up one of the lunches again. This time he turned it over and stared at the nutritional information. This time, he said to himself,

“What does this mean?”

As soon as he said that, his mind almost broke under the sudden influx of information into it.

Bek groaned as what felt like a truck drove along his brain. Trying to focus on something, anything, his eyes settled back on the nutritional table. Almost immediately, he could tell how many calories it contained, what ingredients were used and what cooking method would be ideal; along with all the junk added to it during production and how bad it was for his health. Keeping it aside while still wincing, he said,

“What should I eat, then?”

An answer immediately popped into his head. Bek made his way to the fruits and vegetables section and bought a selection of vegetables, along with some rice and chicken. As he left the store, his headache subsided, leaving him clear minded. Bek was already deep in thought.

He now knew that the world of Greayknell was real, that all the years he had spent there were real. He knew that because what had just happened to him was the activation of a spell healers had by default called [Medicine Preparation] which allowed them to view every piece of information about any consumable item, as well as prepare their own food infused with medical properties. While the latter was restricted to only accomplished healers, the basic function of [Medicine Preparation] allowed any healer to make extremely healthy as well as delicious food with any sort of ingredients around them. Bek had just accidentally activated that while in the store.

Now the real question remained…

WHY did he have that skill?

He was a normal person here, not a healer; yet he had just activated a healer skill in the modern world.

The only logical explanation would be that the life Bek had lived in Greayknell was indeed real, and that, somehow, he had managed to carry over what skills he had while he was there.

This revelation shook him to his very core. Bek’s hands trembled as he walked unsteadily towards his home. Entering his apartment, he locked the doors and set the groceries down on the kitchen counter, and then collapsed on the bed. He was still trembling. If what he understood was real, then he could no longer call himself a normal person. His breathing became more erratic.

Shaking his head, he took a few deep breaths to calm down. No. He would have to investigate further, confirm whether he had retained his skills, and if he had, much of them. He lay on the bed thinking these thoughts, but was interrupted, yet again, by the protestations of his stomach. He stretched himself and got up, and went to the kitchen to start preparing a simple stew and rice. As he began, he could instantly tell exactly what amount of each ingredient to add, how much to cook, at what temperature, everything; to make the dish perfect. He shut off his mind and let instinct guide him, working automatically. As he did, another thought came to his mind,

“If I am here, maybe Remmy too…”

----------------------------------------